To Kill A Mockingbird
by RoadwayFox
Summary: Adeline Ames is a rising star of the DA's office. She came to Hell's Kitchen for a reason and with a plan, a blind date with a blind lawyer wasn't exactly a part of that plan.
1. Prologue

**To Kill A Mockingbird**

 _ **Prologue: A Blind Date**_

She applied a faint blush to highlight the cheekbones, a touch of mascara and painted her lips red. Not the delicious Russian Red that she used frequently during the wild days (and nights) at the university but the red she was using the night was lighter but deeper, that gave her full lips a meaningful shade of unquestionable morality behind it, the one that hinted not screamed.

Sighing Adeline checked with her fingertips for both earnings and send another look in a small mirror in her hands.

"Miss, you wanna go somewhere else or what, eh? Cause it's been ten minutes already." The drivers gruff voice was thick with accent. Middle eastern was the best she could place it.

"I had an impression I was paying you for your time. At least that's what the ticking meter tells me. So as long as we have a contract, and that's what you have with every client of yours _de facto_ , you're going to be polite and quiet and will patiently wait while I decide how I want to use this time I'm paying you for." Adeline was always told that her voice was soft and velvet-ry. She wouldn't comment on that but it appeared pretty persuasive when she needed it to be.

The man behind the wheel opened his mouth to say something but decided against it and just huffed under his nose.

Adeline started playing with the golden ring on the point finger of her right hand as her gaze turned to the window. Her fingers grazed little stones on the band as the water smoothes the cliffs. The repeated action had a calming effect on a young woman.

 _ **8 hours earlier...**_

"No."

"Come on, Addie!" Amy's cheerful voice filled the line and Adeline had to involuntarily cringe. "You've been in the city for how long? Three months now and your love life is still non-existent. Tell me you don't see the wrong in it."

"Am, my love life is non-existent as you so eloquently put it because I choose not to date at the moment. I'm focused on my career which may I remind you is in a very good place right now. So I'm sorry if I don't feel like littering my time with disposable relationships."

"Fine." Amy responded after a small pause. "You don't wont relationships. But you can't honestly tell me that you don't miss sex. Just physical straight-forward animal sex. For health."

Adeline took her time to put a strand of her light brown locks behind her ear and smoothed the rest of her hair.

"And the blonde wins. By your silence I conclude that I'm right."

"Not completely." Her friend answered. "Though you are partly right: I certainly miss that part."

"You sound like an ADA." Amy dragged lazily.

"I am an ADA." Adeline confirmed, checking that the door to her office was closed.

"God you're a killjoy sometimes, Mockingbird!"

Adeline chuckled at her friend's slightly childish behavior but bit her lower lip slightly before saying:

"Tell me about the guy."

"Mmmmm, there's my old smokin' shmexy friend..."

"Don't say another word for a couple seconds, Amy. My mind was just blown. Please, I need to regain mental strength to keep listening to you..."

"Told you: a total killjoy." She laughed loudly right into her phone which translated double volume into Adeline's ear. "Anyway, he's a friend of my high school buddy. The guy was a serious weird back when we were in school but apparently he's in law now. Hello, The Good Wife, right? So, we bumped into each other the other day when I was grocery shopping and he was grocery shopping..."

"Where is the part where you tell me about the person you set me on a blind date with?"

"Stop interrupting, will you?" The sounds that were coming from the cell indicated that either Amy put something like popcorn in her mouth or she was being eaten alive by Godzilla. "Where was I? Oh, your guy, right. In the midst of our choosing an octopus he says that he has that single friend and I happen to have a very attractive single friend. Apparently his friend is a lawyer too. Nel showed me the picture and let me tell, he's one fine piece of man..."

"Amy, you're awful." Adeline had to cover her eyes to hide the shame for her friend's comments. And why the hell people talk single friends when they buy seafood was beyond her.

 _ **Present time...**_

She spotted him as soon as she entered the restaurant. In a room full of people he was sitting alone at the table served for two.

Adeline had to admit that he looked almost the way Amy has described him when they talked in the morning: athletic, handsome with pleasant features and though she shouldn't admit it but he did seem like a very...nice man species. And he was a lawyer, hence intelligent at least to certain degree. Apart from a healing gash on the right side of his temple he seemed like a jackpot.

And then a young ADA froze half way to the table. Grading him and trying not to miss any detail that could tell her about his personality she failed to see the most obvious thing. Why was he wearing dark shades inside?... After that she spotted the cane.

It hit her like a wall of bricks:

She was on a blind date with a blind person. _Yep, Irony was a bitch._

 **A\N:**

 **Hey, guys! Welcome, welcome! It's my first Daredevil story so keep it in mind. If you've ever read my stories, you know that I research pretty well when it comes to fanfiction. Most of the time! Well let me assure you, this time I've got a good feeling about the story.**

 **Let me know what you think of the character, Adeline. I'm very impatient to know!**

 **If the story gets positive feedback, promise to post and not keep you waiting!**

 **So good to be here! Can't wait to hear from you. Xo**

 **RoadwayFox**


	2. Chapter 1

**To Kill A Mockingbird**

 _ **Chapter 1: The Setup**_

 _And the night is takin' over_

 _And the moonlight gets exposure_

 _And the players have been chosen_

 _And it seems like fate has spoken_

"Matt?"

"Adeline?"

He reached out a hand and she shook it lightly, their connection lasting for mare seconds.

"Have a sit." He offered after they exchanges a quick 'hi', while the server that appeared a second before reached for the chair to help her. "It's nice to meet you."

"Thank you." She said quietly to the boy who she assumed looked much younger than he really was and turned back to Matt. "It's nice to meet you too."

"Hope you like Italian." He asked and the corner of his lips turned up in a small smile.

"I love Italian." Adeline smirked in return.

 _He sensed her nervousness literally a mile away while she was still in a taxi parked on the other side of the street. Her heart-rate was rather fast and she couldn't find what to do with her hands. He anticipated that their date was a surprise for her as well as for him. Matt could honestly admit that the idea of not going did cross his mind but as he smelled her scent he was glad that he decided against it._

 _It was her perfume. Very faint: she must have put it on in the morning before work and it drained off but the base of the aroma was still there. It was eastern but not vividly: notes of rose and violet intervened with wet wood and raspberry leading to one more part of the scent Matt could not exactly put yet. He felt intrigued. He was usually good with smells...very good. The woman wearing that kind of perfume had to be at least interesting judging solely by her choice of perfume._

 _He listened to heels creating a little rhyme on the polished wooden floor of the restaurant. Her hair was dark but with lighter highlights as the ringlets reached just below her shoulders. She did bite her lips once or twice a she was calculating his appearance. A moment later she stopped all the commotion. Her heart raced and he could only imagine what riot was taking place in her mind. It wasn't hard to guess: apparently she wasn't notified that she was having a dinner with a blind guy._ _ **Smooth, Foggy**_ _._

 _It was certainly an amusing moment of hesitation. If Matt had to bat: he'd probably put a fifty on her sprinting back to the cab on her 200$ heels right that second. He was glad he wasn't a gambler because next moment Adeline Ames called his name in her velvet-like voice._

"Anything to drink, Ma'am?"

"I wouldn't mind a glass of wine. Red."

"And for you, Sir?"

"The same, please. Thank you."

"I'll be back with your drinks in a minute and will take your order."

As the server left Adeline took a moment to take a better look at her companion: dark red hair, strong jaw line, a flat nose that seemed to have been subjected to more than one injury. He was wearing a grayish suit and black tie which was normal every day attire for him if he was a lawyer.

"For a minute there I thought you'd turn around and escape." Matt interrupted her train of thought.

Adeline cocked her head slightly to look at him at another angle, then asked softly:

"Are you sure you are blind?"

Matt grinned.

"Most of the time."

"Though they do say that blind people tent to "see" more than the once who actually have sight."

Matt was about to offer his input when the server came back with two very tall glasses of red wine that engulfed his senses with the deep aroma of wooden barrels, cade and blueberry.

The lawyer turned back to his date after they ordered:

"Misto del Mare, huh? So you decided to stick around."

Adeline grinned, appreciating his joke about the indication that her dish was one of the most time-demanding in the kitchen.

"Well, I am starving and it's not every day that a handsome man wine and dine me in Italian restaurant."

"I find it hard to believe." Though by the beating of her pulse he knew it was the truth.

"Flattery, huh? It will get you nowhere but...keep going." She smirked and neared the wine glass to her nose to inhale the aroma.

"And what's the verdict?"

"Blueberry is very distinctive." The young woman answered after a second. "Something coniferous...and there's something else..."

"Touch of cherry." Matt probed. "But other than that, you're absolutely right. Wine lover?" 

"I used to live in Canada. Wine-making there is a part of life. Dozens of vineyards in some regions. I even worked in one for a short period of time. Those people know how to make a good wine." Adeline took a sip, holding the liquor in her mouth before gulping.

As she was talking about Canada and wine Matt felt her heart-beat slow into a comfortable tempo and as the beverage made it's way down her throat she made a content sound that reminded him of a cat purring though it was much quieter and less on the "r" side.

"What about you, Matt?" She asked finally, dancing out of her alcohol-taste induced trance. "Touch of cherry? You sound like someone in a know."

"It comes with some specific features of mine." He chuckled. "Smell and taste are slightly high-lightened."

She didn't respond but felt like she should have guessed. Adeline has never encountered anyone blind before so she wan't sure where were the boundaries of the interaction.

Second set of glasses filled with red wine followed not long after the first one.

"Foggy said you're working law too?"

By the leap that her heart gave , he realized that the subject wasn't welcomed:

"On the other hand, it is such a nice night. Let's not ruin it with work talking."

"I agree. And Foggy?"

"My friend. He and your friend Amy set whole thing up."

"I thought his name was Nel or something..." Adeline's eyebrow went up.

"Nel?..." Then Matt produced a throaty laugh. "Probably from Nelson."

"Right...nicknames everywhere." The young woman nodded. "What's yours?"

"It's not exactly innovative. I used to hear Shades from time to time."

"Yeah, feels like there's a void of creativity to it." Adeline grinned and fingered her left earring.

"What about you?"

"I don't really have one."

"I don't think you're telling the whole truth." Matt smirked smoothing his tie.

"Well, look at that, Mr Lawyer. Fine, I'll rephrase: I used to have one back at the University."

"Let's hear it." He edged.

"Ehhh...Mockingbird." She let out.

"It's better than Shades, I'll give you that."

They shared a laugh at that and Matt asked:

"But really why Mockingbird?"

"We had those role plays quiet often when we played out cases in court. I bet you had those too if you were in law school.."

"Sure, Columbia is famous for their Court theatre or whatever they call it."

"Right, so a lot of time I used this trick: I took the opposite side's strategy as a base and when they got mixed up in their own evidence base I used it against them. And once Jamie Kent called me a Mockingbird who after hearing a sound uses it even louder as it's own."

"This one story for a nickname! Not just "You're wearing glasses, now you'll be called Shades."

"Yeah, though as far as I know Jamie Kent works as a salesperson in Walmart after being kicked out for cheating after a third year."

"You know, as far as I know, my "Jamie Kent" didn't end up well off too."

"Cheers." Adeline proposed, raising a glass. "To those haters."

"Gladly." Matt raised his own glass. "Cheers."

"Is Matt short for Matthew?"

"It is. Why?"

"Oh nothing..." Her cheeks heated up ever so lightly. "When I was a kid I was crazy for names. Genesis, meanings. Stuff like that. So I guess I still subconsciously filter through that prism."

"Now I just have to hear it." Matt leaned a little closer as if ready to learn a secret she was about to share.

"Have I trapped myself?" After receiving a nod from him she went on. "O-ok, let's see. Matthew is Hebrew, meaning "Gift of God". In Bible he was the apostle to write the first..."

"Gospel, yeah." He finished.

Adeline looked at her companion a little surprised then smiled:

"Were you a fan of names too or is it religious?"

"I can't say I was a fan." Matt affirmed. "Though talking to you know I realize just how much I missed out."

She inclined her head a bit as her melodic laughter filled the air in their microcosm. He had no other choice but to join in.

"I think we're not really good at this: I believe we broke all the rules there ever existed." Adeline said taking her glass in her hand.

"Which are?" Matt asked, mirroring her action.

"How does it go? Hmm...Never talk about work, religion and ex-partners on a first date."

"Well, we can discuss the ex thing to certainly make sure the rules fly out of the window."

The brunette smiled lightly biting on her lower lip and raised her gaze to her date. The moment she did it she remembered that he wouldn't look back at her, there won't be a moment when he'll catch her eyes across the table and she'd feel that pleasant tingling from just locking their eyes. Suddenly and every bit unexpectedly (Adeline blamed it whole heartedly on the wine) the young ADA felt that thought ricochet a little spike in her chest.

So she just hummed a little smile and took one more sip of her drink.

It was almost 10p.m. when they left the restaurant. One small conversation fell into another and then another one. Filled with laughter and grinning both almost didn't realize that they spent together close to three hours.

"Careful." Matt held Adeline's elbow before she had a chance to trip on the step she's missed while buttoning her coat.

She looked at her date, her blue eyes wide:

"How..."

"The cane." He answered softly.

She was looking intently at him, right at his shades but all she could really see was her own reflection. Finally she half-whispered. "Sure."

The cab was parked in front of the entrance. Matt opened the door for Adeline but before she could get in, he called her, only a cab door separating them:

"What does Adeline mean?"

She smiled but answered right away.

"Noble. It means Noble."

"Hmm. No surprise at all."

Though Adeline's lips parted to say something Matt held out a hand to help her in the car. She took it and before getting in squeezed it lightly:

"I...I had a wonderful time, Matt."

"More reason to do it again."

The redhead closed the cab door and the car started the same second, leaving him behind on the street smelling strays and bits of her perfume. He still couldn't guess the one ingredient of the scent that intrigued him the most when they met.

 **A\N:**

 **Hey, guys! Just wanted to say Thank you to everyone who's reviewed and who's reading.**

 **The first chapter's up! Tell me what you think about the structure: is it easy enough to read? One more, what did you think of Matt's POV? Should I add it frequently? What do you say?**

 **Leave me a line or two!**

 **Good time of day to you, sweeties xo**

 **RoadwayFox**


	3. Chapter 2

_**Chapter 2: Prevention of Pawn Weakness**_

 _Regrets collect like old friends_

 _Here to relieve all the darkest moments_

The phone started ringing just as Adeline closed the door of her apartment. Sometimes she wondered if Amy had some radar for those things.

"Amy."

"What? Why are you picking up? Aren't you supposed to be in bed...or any other more prevented place of your choosing?" Her friend was chewing on what seemed like a gum very loudly.

"Because I'm home and alone. Feel like killing you though. Or at least inflicting pain." Adeline got out of her high heels and bee-lined to the couch for her feet have started hurting long before she reached home.

"What? Why? I mean like this time."

"First of all thank you for heads up that Matt's blind! It's not a problem, I mean you should know it, but seriously you could have warned me... so I wouldn't feel like a little Chinese girl lost in the middle of american supermarket."

"Wait wait wait! Addie, what are you talking about?"

"You didn't know he was blind?"

"No-o, nine, niet...Nel's such an ass! Didn't tell anything. O-o-ok, but you stayed, as far as I can tell. How was it? And why aren't you...? You know!"

"Oh that's the second part why I wanna kill you. He's...very nice." As she said "nice" Adeline's voice gave a little half-breath. "He's funny and smart..and charming. And not an option for a one-night stand."

"Wow you certainly are impressed with Stevie Wonder there."

"Sometimes I listen to what you say and wonder why do you even have friends..."

"I don't, you're my only friend. My life is lonely and pathetic and when I die, my dog is gonna eat me before I'm found." Then Amy laughed hysterically and added. "Kidding! I don't have a dog."

 **\- - /- -**

Adeline wrapped the silky robe around herself and loosely secured it with a matching belt, hair dawn, no trace of make-up. Slowly she reached the study and turned the table lamp on, dim light covering the small room. The brunette took her place behind the wooden desk and threw her legs on it as she learned on the back of the chair looking up at the ceiling.

Barbara Reser, Ben Millstone, Sara Miller, Caleb Sommers, Jerome Haas...pictures of their blooded bodies, tortured and torn were pinned right over the desk. All Adeline had to do was raise her eyes. She studied every crime scene very carefully for a hundred times at least. They weren't glued to the ceiling for this, not anymore. There was a moment during those months...indefinite one...when the pictures started serving as a reminder: the man who committed those crimes was still out free and there would not be any kind of peace in her soul before he pays.

Adeline's blue orbs locked on the photographs once more before she reached for the laptop on the desk, her mind going back and forth between the job at hand and a man she shared a dinner with. Matt left an impression on her, that's where Amy was right. It was rare, the amount of men who could actually fall into sync with her was decreeing drastically, sometimes Adeline considered turning into a hermit at all. She knew she was attractive to men, some would say desirable: petit with dark wavy hair that barely reached her delicate shoulders, big eyes, full lips. That should have been enough for a simple but a very comfortable life. Unfortunately that's not how Adeline was tailored. The innocence long gone, her head a structure for the chaotic criminal activity she decided to prosecute. She didn't have a big personal drama that pushed her to that, it was just there from the start: cold-sweat mind; she was born to be in a court room.

The only trouble arising was that she planned for Matt to be just a one night thing, just sex. Thus he wouldn't divert her attention from the more important things. Because for the last year she felt like there was only one man in her life: a criminal with a nasty habit to leave a trail of massacred bodies and corrupted cops behind him. And Adeline won't stop and rest until she throws him behind bars or brings him to death penalty. So even if she liked the redheaded lawyer there was just no place for Matt at the moment in that chaos.

-\\-

 _Matt couldn't deny that he wasn't just passing by Adeline's window that night._

 _The darkness has long enveloped the city but for a Friday it was rather calm on the streets. Or at least that was Daredevil's excuse._

 _There was something different about that woman that he couldn't place, she was unlike every one he's known. Matt wasn't a saint, he's had his fair share of lady friends and if he was honest a couple trails of broken hearts as well. But never there was such a feeling before: something in the pit of his stomach as if nagging him to not just leave it at one date._

 _He knew that Adeline was just like himself, a person of many layers. He could feel it, sense it. And he was about to start peeling them. It's like when a con man meets a con man, they just know, there's the intangible mutual wasn't just a plain curiosity: the air around her was soaked with danger. And Matt has learned long ago to never ignore his gut. Things were about to heat up in Hell's Kitchen and she would be one of the key players._ _ **Oh, he was definitely sticking around.**_

 _It helped that he was intrigued by her on a whole different level. Despite the fact that she was beautiful (he judged only by the way sounds around her echoed back to show him her sculptured face, a small nose and the slightly pointed up corners of her lips when she smiled softly) by her nervousness he concluded that dating wasn't her usual idea of spending time. Which wasn't customary for women as good-looking as her. And smart, every single thing they talked about the conversation flowed with no awkward pauses. Then why? Matt new the answer: she had secrets. Because again just like himself she wouldn't simply let anyone in her life._

 _Something, could be his Daredevil sense, told him he'd be keeping tabs on her because this Devil was hell on bend to solve the mystery that was Adeline Ames._

-\\-

"Sir?" The new "assistant" was young, seemed to be in his early twenties but he possessed the quality most important for the job he was hired for. Invisibility. Marco Moore was your usual mouse: plain, average, with almost no special characteristics, someone to be passed by unnoticed.

"Come it." The man with a whisky glass called.

Marco stepped through the door of what seemed to be an office.

"I need you to become a shadow for someone. I was told that you're a perfect man for the job, Mouse, that what they call you." it wasn't question. "Can you do that?"

"Who do you want me to shadow?"

The man with hoarse voice finally turned from the window but in the barely lit room the young man still couldn't see the face, only the grim glints from his glasses and what seemed like short grey hair.

"It's the new ADA. She used to work in Seattle before but changed the location three months ago. I want to know everything she does. Everything."

Marco was distracted by the raspiness of his employer's voice once again and could only nod receiving a manila folder from a larger man.

"I will be generous if you are as good as you were painted to be."

"When do you want me to start, Mr...?"

"You can call me Mr. Hyde. And you can start tomorrow morning."

Before leaving Marco could swear he heard a very strange sound: like a laugh but deeper and much more malicious. His feet accelerated on its own accord. He was out for the good money, who was the man that hired him and why he wanted to know about the new ADA wan't his problem at all.

-\\-

"Hello?" A sleepy voice answered the phone.

"Jen?"

"Adeline? What the hell? What time is it?"

"Well, it's 4 a.m. here sooo around midnight at your place. Were you sleeping?" Adeline asked, looking at the picture in one of her hands while she used another to wind her hair on a point finger and her shoulder and neck to hold the cell.

"I think the question is why aren't you?" The other female sounded annoyed.

"Sorry I woke up you but this is important..."

"Isn't it always?"

"Oh come on, Miss Gloom, help a friend out!"

"Fine, what do you need, Adie?" Jen finally caved in with a sigh.

"Do you remember about a year ago you had a client who was raped after a party in a bar? She said it was an enormous man like a beast or something?"

"Yeah, yeah, Michelle...Rivers."

"And the guy you suspected...Calvin Zabo?"

"Yes, a crazy scientist, totally off the hook about reality but we had to let him go. Not enough evidence. Why are you asking anyway?"

"Because I'm looking at his picture from two days right now." Adeline's voice sounded as if she was deep in thought. "He's here, in Hell's Kitchen."

"Hmmm...well, if you ask me, he was guilty. And he's brilliant, very smart. So whatever you do, be careful."

"I will, I promise. Sand me the case files on him, will you?"

"First thing in the morning." When she didn't hear any reply, Jennifer wished her friend luck in their usual manner. "Goodnight, Ames."

"Goodnight, Walters." Adeline smiled and hung up.

 **A\N:**

 **There you go, we've got the villains surfacing. Plus Jennifer Walters makes a guest appearance. More to come, I promise!**

 **Do you think there wasn't enough Matt in the chapter? I think it wasn't. I miss Matt always: the more Matt the better.**

 **Make my heart swell and leave a note to me in reviews! Xo**

 **RoadwayFox**


	4. Chapter 3

_**Chapter 3: Painting the Chessboard**_

 _I hang my coat up in the first bar_

 _There is no peace that I've found so far_

"Evelyn, I need a word with Judge Kemp."

The green-eyed secretary with chopped blonde hair and visible lines on her face looked up from the computer to a waiting ADA.

"He's hearing a case right now. But they are supposed to be finishing...You can check if you'd like."

"Which courtroom?"

"Check the schedule." The secretary pointed her head at the tablet on the reception desk.

"Thanks." Adeline nodded taking a quick look at the gadget's screen.

The brunette hurriedly got to the second floor and found the courtroom State vs. Bungle hearing was taking place in. Sneaking in she stopped by the large wooden door.

"Nothing here is pure...and nothing here is simple." A familiar voice said as her date from two nights before stood up from his seat.

Adeline's curiosity peaked and one of her eyebrows flew up automatically. Before Matt could say another word the prosecutor, Robert Ross, interrupted:

"Objection, Your Honor! Poetry. Can Mr. Murdock leave it for a closing speech?"

"Calm down, Mr. Ross." Judge Kemp sighed, it definitely wasn't the first time the two had clashed. "Mr. Murdoch, I will allow but this better have a point."

"Of course, Your Honor." Matt bend his head and for a second it looked like he was listening very carefully to something but next moment he "looked" back at where the witness was sitting. "Some people, Mr. Burke, seem to think that justice is served by a flip of a coin in this city..."

"Seriously, Your Honor? The counselor is harassing my witness!" Ross jumped to his feet again. "And to be honest it's still a little dramatic."

"Counselors, both come up here." The judge seemed annoyed as both men made there way to the bench.

Adeline chuckled to herself lightly but decided to wait outside of the courtroom.

-\\-

"Soooo..."Adeline dragged dramatically, spotting him leaving the courtroom from her spot not far from the entrance. "This is Matt Murdoch the lawyer."

"Can't put it," He chuckled good-naturally, one hand holding a pack of documents, the other his cane. "Do you sound impressed or petrified?"

"Still undecided." She stepped a little closer so that they wouldn't have to be very loud with all the people flowing out into the hall. "But just so you know: I never look petrified. My poker face is much better than that."

"I'll remember that." Matt took a step in her direction as well.

"Where did you run of to..." A loud voice came first announcing the arrival of a third party. "Wow."

"Adeline, this is my partner in crime – no pun even intended – Foggy Nelson." Matt introduced as the ADA extended a hand.

"So you're the infamous Nel."

"Guilty." Foggy took her hand for a second and firmly shook it. "And you are Adeline."

"Guilty." She mirrored his answer making him grin. "That was a good show over there."

"Oh you know, we just love to play with the DA's office..."

As if right on cue Robert Ross in all his grace (and the man was taller than Matt or Foggy at least by a head) angrily stormed out and appeared next to the three:

"Happy? Now I'll have to see your faces tomorrow as well. And that could have been such a nice day." He roared before his gaze fell on Adeline. If he was surprised to see her in a company of two lawyers he didn't let it show. "Ames."

"Ross." She greeted in return.

"We have to be in Theroux's office in forty-five. Don't be late. He's a pain in the ass today." The prosecutor murmured the last part rather indefinably and sharply removed himself from the scene.

"We'll see you tomorrow!" Foggy called after him and Adeline was sure Ross would flip him a bird if he could do it in a courthouse.

"Theroux's office?" Matt asked though the answer was evident.

"Yep."

"As in the DA?"

"Yep." She grinned. "The one you like to play with."

"She's feisty." Foggy commented. "I don't want her to be a prosecutor on our cases."

"And I hear she's got one hell of a poker face." Matt second.

They shared a laugh and Adeline had to excuse herself to go see the Judge.

"Do you realize just how much you owe me this time?" She almost missed Foggy's hushed whisper.

Matt just chuckled and his next words were stolen out of his mouth and teared up by the mess of people's voices and the courthouse's noise.

-\\-

"So tell me how did you end up in a DA's office?"

They were sitting at the bar while Foggy and Karen left to get their coats.

"I guess there wasn't actually a choice for me in that matter. I just knew. I swear there isn't a big tear-filled story behind it. What about you, Mr...Avocado."

She tried. Tried _very_ hard not to laugh but...Adeline burst out laughing almost the same second she said it.

"How?...When?"

"When you left me with Foggy for a minute really."

Matt sighed but chuckled.

"It's an old...and a probably it would be accurate to say alcohol-induced story."

"Nice, Counselor. You found a perfect way to say that you and your partner were absolutely drunk."

Matt smiled but sported a rather smug look:

"You read between the lines, Ms. Ames."

"I have to. I deal with lawyers on everyday basis."

"We can't all be that bad." His lips formed a thin line developing a coy smile.

"I think Ross would disagree with you on that one." Adeline offered getting more comfortable on the bar stool.

"Oh Ross...I seriously genuinely love that guy. He fights for the idea so hard sometimes." Matt offered, turning his head a bit as if wishfully thinking.

"Almost all the time, yes. But don't underestimate him: he's not bad at all at what he does." Then she grinned lightly and added. "You know, we used to be so good: no work talking and all. Where did it all go?"

"I'll take the blame here. Plus, I already screwed up when I called you today after we met in court."

When silence followed Matt went on:

"Wasn't I supposed to wait three days or..?"

Adeline laughed and it flew out so naturally that it actually pained her to think that the man she's known for only five hours can make her feel so at ease around him that other people can't do in a lifetime.

"I think it's safe to say that we're preaching: Rules are meant to be broken."

"Yeah," The lawyer agreed. "True rebells."

"A rebel and an avocado? Careful, you start sounding a little bit too dangerous."

Neither of them realized that they were creeping closer to one another having a hundred explanations in their heads, loud music and the quantity of people around them just being the most obvious ones.

"I'm taking Karen home!" Foggy announced and stopped seeing the proximity between his friend and the ADA. "What? Wrong timing again?"

"Not at all." Adeline smiled but learned back on the stool.

Foggy clenched his teeth and bumped Matt on the shoulder wordlessly saying "Sorry." His partner just smiled and said goodbye while Adeline waved to Karen who was waiting by the exit receiving the same courtesy from the other woman.

"It was a pleasure, Adeline." Foggy said turning to the brunette. "I'm leaving you in capable hands."

"I'm sure you do." She nodded. "Bye, Foggy."

"Say hi to Amy."

"You really think you won't be receiving a call or two from her?"

"I know, what's with that woman and her addiction to phoning everybody?"

"No idea."

They exchanged one more smile and Foggy disappeared in a crowd, leaving the two alone. Adeline stole a quick glance at her watch.

"You in a hurry?

"No...how did you...? Seriously, are you sure about that blind thing?" She looked intently as he just chuckled in return.

"Sadly or not, I am."

"Hmmm. But I'm am pretty tired. Stayed up late last night; unfortunately seems like my brain works better after midnight." She took the last sip of her drink. "Do you mind if we call it a night?"

"Not if you at least let me escort you to your place."

"That would be really nice, just a couple blocks from here." She took her coat from Matt. "But...you already knew that...how?"

"Amy gives Foggy too much information."

"She's impossible!"

"From what I gathered she's like Google. Has the information about everything, knows where to get it and who's gonna leak; and not always factual." Matt said as they left the bar, leaving the music and noisy people behind.

Adeline laughed loudly. The description was very accurate.

"She truly is. Dad always used to say: "It's just like that in our Mental Institution: who's in scrubs first, he's the doctor for day."

"Is he a lawyer too? Because that sounds like what a lawyer could say." Matt grinned.

"Who? Dad? No!" Adeline answered incredulously while she watched Matt maneuver over the steps and obstacles on the road. "He was a climber."

"Really? Wow. I don't think I knew a climber before."

"Yep. Five out of Seven Summits. The Sixth was his last one. His body is still somewhere there on a found." Her voice was somewhere far as if she was recollecting a memory from long ago but it wasn't sad.

"I'm sorry."

"It's ok, really. It was his life. And he lived it the way he knew. And lived it much better than a lot of us could say for themselves."

"What about your mom? She a climber too?"

Adeline laughed, it was a very sarcastic sound:

"My mother is not a climber, my mother is Athena Rhodes. I left my father's last name after she got married again."

"Athena Rhodes?" Matt raised his eyebrows. Adeline didn't see it in the dark but could gather by his undertone. "That must have been one hell of a childhood."

"Or no childhood at all."

Athena Rhodes was an industrial magnate with a business in communications. Money, questionable connections, dark past.

"She...wasn't a good role model...or a good mother at that. She...she was herself, Athena Rhodes."

"You turned out fine anyway."

"You think?" Adeline looked at her companion trying to recognize the flattery. There was none. As an ADA she learned to see when people lie so obviously, he wasn't.

"Yeah."

"I try to think that genes are not everything." Then she came to a stop. "Well, this is me. Sorry the last ten minutes were spent talking about...that."

"Don't be. I asked because I wanted to know."

She just nodded forgetting once more that he couldn't see her movements.

"Well..thanks again for the night and getting me home safe."

Matt half-smirked:

"It's a dangerous city, call me anytime you need a personal guard."

"The offer is put up for consideration, Counselor." She smiled and turned to the stairs.

A second later Adeline turned around, made a step closer to the lawyer and left a soft kiss on his stubbled cheek trying not to graze the glasses with her face.

Then she just turned and left, her cheeks heating up lightly. Matt stayed on her doorsteps with a strange but welcomed feeling and that same smell of her perfume the element of which he couldn't place the last time.

 _ **15 months from now**_

 _There's no pain, there's no pain, there's no pain, there's no pain, there' no pain._

Her mind was blank. The wind was playing with her dark hair but it was no bother: it was more a brother's caress rather than the raging storm of one of the elements.

 _Pain does not exist. Pain does not exist. Pain does not exist. Pain does not exist._

Clouds were grey and the sky seemed painted granite. It wan't anything out of ordinary for the Himalayas. In Paro Valley it's almost every day that the clouds envelop the mountain, her refuge, as if shadowing it from the enemy's eye.

 _Breath in...breath out..._

The Tiger's nest, Monastery on the cliffs of Bhutan; somewhere between India and China. That's where she's been learning to function again.

Her eyes dulled and she's lost even more weight but she's learned to breath again, and to turn her head to the left again, and to move without a pain that could be only considered to the one when the body is torn by a dozen wild cats limb by limb.

 _Pain does not exist. Pain is only in your head. Pain does not exist._

She was sitting in the lotus position near the Preyer wheel watching the nature creating a play in front of her eyes.

 _There's no pain._

She can't say she remembered her life before two months ago vividly. Memories came and went away into the cauldron that was her mind.

 _There's no pain._

There was no Adeline Ames the way she existed before anymore. There was a shell of that person: and the monks filled that shell with mantras and preys and knowledge.

 _There's no pain..._

 _ **AN:**_

 _ **So that's important: what do you think?!**_


	5. Chapter 4

_**Chapter 4: Enter the Black Bishop/Meet the White Knight**_

 _Light up, Light up_

 _As if you have a choice_

 _Even if you cannot hear my voice_

 _-\\-_

 _He dragged his mask from his face hastily. Breathing ragged and right hand clenching the invisible stick. Matt was listening carefully to the woman he's left on the ground having fled up on the roofs. He did that only after hearing sirens – the cops were nearing._

 _Physically she was fine apart from some bruises and gushes. She bit her lip inside her mouth. He heard the adrenalin pumping in her veins and he smelled her fear._

" _Are you the Devil?" She asked before starting to shake, biting on her previously injured lip again. He chose not to answer for fear that she'd recognize his voice._

 _Less than anything he wanted to just leave her there undone but he couldn't risk his identity more than he's already had._

 _Daredevil's breathing slowly came back to normal again and he sighed deeply banging the back of his head to a stone wall._ __

 _It was a full moon. Full moon was never a good sign..._

 _ **11 hours earlier...**_

"Theroux gave me the Daredevil case."

Adeline raised her eyes to the entrance of her office. Ross stood there holding the frame with his weight.

"By the way you look I'm not sure if you see it as a good thing or a bad thing..."

"What do you know about that guy?"

"Nothing really. That he is a vigilante, and he's responsible for the Fisk fall. What's bugging you so much?" She hit the back of the chair with her body and pointed to the sit in front of her for her visitor to take.

He obliged silently.

"I don't know. Probably that instead of murderers and human traffickers Theroux wants me to hunt the man running around in a masquerade costume."

"Is that it?" Adeline nudged.

"Or maybe because he did something we couldn't." Ross answered after a pause.

"I see." The ADA rolled the pen she was holding in her hands. "I am sympathetic with that guy, if you wanna know the truth. But he's being the judge and the prosecutor all in one face. Isn't this what we are here fore, to prevent things like that as well punishing the criminals."

Ross looked conflicted yet again:

"Take a look at it for me? Maybe you see something there..."

"Don't do that. You know who I'm here for. And your guy is really far from the bastards that I'm hunting."

"Come on, Adeline, I'm not selling you the case. Just take a look." Her colleague really seemed on the brick of confusion and undecidedness so Adeline just nodded her head and the documents found a way to her table a moment later. "Thanks."

He was gone after that.

Adeline took the papers he's left but before she could open the folder her phone started ringing. She grinned at the display showing the name 'Matt Murdoch'.

"I like that we are going very stable: we talk or meet every two days sharp."

"Lucky me that you like it that way." Matt chuckled into the phone. "Then you can't say no to a quick lunch. A nod to out tradition."

"I'm not about to! A girl got to eat."

"Then prepare to be smitten with the best street food in the city."

Adeline giggled. And couldn't really believe that she's giggled. But he was very charming and the only witness of her action was a stapler so she'd let it slide.

"Extra-junk today?"

"Oh yes, ma'am."

"Where?"

"You just have to get out of the office, I'll meet you there."

"Nice." Adeline smiled and put her pen down. "In half an hour?" 

"I'll be there."

As promised thirty minutes later he was waiting for her a little on the side form the entrance to her office building.

"I like punctuality." She smirked and saw him make a move in her direction navigating muster-fully over the crowd of people on a busy street like magician.

When he reached her Adeline was about to say something but then just let out an amazed sigh and stayed quiet.

"You wanted to say something." Matt offered instead as if reading her mind.

"Yeah." She confessed. "But...I'm not sure..."

"Is that about the blind thing?" He asked lightly and rather bluntly.

"It is." The ADA replied.

"Just ask then. You don't have to walk on the glass about this. I don't want you to." He was very sincere, she nodded more to herself not knowing that he felt her do that as well.

"How could you possibly get so good at this?" She sounded amazed and interested, he noted.

He put his hand on her lower back very lightly to push her in the direction of their lunch and answered when they started moving:

"You get used to it, you practice, you live your life without certain things that you have to substitute for something else. And you become good at something else simply because you don't have a choice."

"Have you always been blind?"

"No. I got in an accident when I was a kid. So I had a lot of time to practice." Matt joked. "Strange, I would think you'd google me!"

"What? No! I would never..." It wasn't well played at all. "Ok, I had those thoughts but...I don't know...I guess for once I just wanted to know you for you and not what other people paint you to be."

"That was a right choice. Other people paint me painfully awful." He joked again but inside he was doing a little absolutely-impossible-to-notice happy dance.

"Do you still remember? All the colors and...am I going too far with my questions?" Adeline asked continuing their previous conversation.

"I told you that I wanted you to ask those if you had any. This subject is out there to discuss as well as others not make an elephant in the room out of it."

She laughed whole-heartedly as Matt replied:

"And to your question: I do remember, pretty good actually."

After a moment she grabbed his hand sharply coming to a stop:

"Oh my god...what is it? It smells...delicious!"

They stopped at the vendor with couple people in front of them in the line.

"Hope you like it hot?"

"We are still talking about food, right?"

 _ **13 months from now**_

"We are very close, A. Don't close your eyes." The voice was smooth but determined. "If you close your eyes, you'll get lost. Do you want to get lost?"

She tried to answer very hard but the words didn't make it out of her moth and turned into unrecognizable sounds when they finally left it. It just made her even more anxious.

"It's ok. Don't worry. Don't try too hard. You have a long way ahead of you. You'll need this strength. "

She tried to stay awake. For this she listened to the sounds that the helicopter they were riding was making. There was a strange pattern in it, the one that helped her have her breathing in check.

The blonde man sitting next to her form held her hand and talked to her patiently. Her mind once in a while swam away to parts of her brain that stored Daredevil, Matt, their first date in the Italian restaurant, kisses, Cobra, the knives, the pain...it seemed blended together as colorful movie clips.

"A, listen to me. You've got to focus on my voice. Do not let your mind sleep away. Right now you've got to choose: you can fight or you can let go. Now I won't guarantee that you win if you choose to fight but I promise there are people that are gonna stand with you every step of the way and you will make it out much stronger after this."

A tear slipped from her blood-shot eye and she squeezed his hand, the one that was holding hers, with spasmed fingers. Then finally her lips let out a word, shaky that sounded more like she was begging:

"Ollie..."

"I know. I know that you want to die. Because right now it seems easier. But you will stay alive." His eyes turned cold as the decision was suddenly made by him, the decision for her. That was not negotiable. That was an order.

Adeline choked on air and tried to cough. It was harder than she imagined.

"Mr. Queen, we'll be landing in fifteen minutes." One of the pilots barked from his seat.

Oliver nodded but didn't break his eye contact with the dark-headed woman lying in front of him wrapped in medical blankets, blood leaking through her wounds even though she had been tended to.

"Adeline..."

His voice was far away. _But why? It's not like she closed her eyes...or did she?_

"Adeline!"

 _Adeline!..._

 _ **AN:**_

 _ **I know, I know I'm leaving you to all those cliffhangers BUT at least I'm trying to post rather often, right?**_

 _ **Any thoughts? Is it taking the direction you guys like\dislike? Let me know!**_

 _ **XO**_

 _ **RoadwayFox**_


	6. Chapter 5

_**Chapter 5: The White Queen and The Black Bishop**_

 _In a cold night_

 _There will be no fair fight_

 _There will be no good night_

 _To turn and to walk away_

 _ **1 hour earlier.**_

A full moon. _Nothing good happens when the moon is full..._

How it happened? How did she end up in a situation like that? Adeline had no idea: she stayed late at the office, when she finally left there was no taxi in sight and she started walking towards home hoping to hail one on while on her way.

A story as old as it gets.

Adeline felt someone's presence before she saw them. Sounded like two men.

She started walking faster and reached into her bag for the phone. There were a couple people here and there but all in all the streets were empty...it wasn't the safest neighborhood after all.

"I wouldn't do that if I were you." One of the two said, his voice sharp and detached.

Adeline just kept walking taking a turn to her right. Wrong decision. Dead end. She really thought there was an alley there. What a stupid mistake.

"The phone won't help, Miss Ames." The same man said as the ADA came to stop realizing there was no where to run.

"What do you want?" She turned to the two men who stalked her with a sigh and though her facade was a stone wall, insides were covered with fear.

"I would be a little nicer in your shoes. I mean we can just give you the message or it could get violent." He came too close to her while the other one stopped good six feet from them.

"I'm listening." The brunette tried to sound unaffected but she had to gulp the last sound that came as she answered.

Somehow the man in front of her, very tall that had to bend down to be in her face, unveiled the knife in his hand. Adeline wasn't a fan but knew one thing about knives: they were deadly if used against a human body. She felt a spasm envelop her insides.

"You work too much. The case you are working right now...you have to lay off." His breath on her cheek made her want to gag but she stored the urge for later. "Or we won't be so polite."

" _I think you need to lay off first."_

The voice came from out of nowhere. From above? From behind the goon that was holding her at a knife's point? Because after the voice came all happened very fast but at the same time in a slow motion. Adeline was sent flying on the cold hard ground, she could swear she broke the skin on her palm though tried not to check it.

There were hits and fighting, and curses from the two criminals that threatened her and there was a man...in red costume that used as far as she could tell a mix of martial arts to knock them out. He was very well-trained but didn't have any super-human abilities.

With the last of two men hitting the floor his head first there were only the sounds of the streets left.

Adeline couldn't get up, she felt cuts on her palms burn but nothing could compare to her inside state: the destructive energy was coming out of her in waves.

The man in what seemed like a leather costume and a mask stood his back to her but she realized who he was: every newspaper in the city felt the obligation to report the Daredevil story, his file was in her bag.

"Are you...the Devil?" Her voice sounded foreign, nothing like her own.

He still hasn't turned to her instead bent down to bind the goons' hands behind their back.

"You...you...need to help..." When she couldn't finish the sentence Daredevil turned his head to her listening carefully.

Adeline faced the ground away from him, her hair flying out of place shadowing her face, and tried to take deep breaths but to no avail: she was hyperventilating and shaking uncontrollably.

"Panic attack." She coaxed out but could sense that he's already guessed. Her state took the turn for the worse when she felt utter helplessness: if the man in a carnival costume left she could die right there. "You..pressure...on chest..."

Before Adeline could finish her incoherent thought the man who saved her embraced her from behind and held tight with his stone hands not letting her ragged breathing and shaking move her from his arms.

There was no telling how much time passed - seconds, minutes or hours – she only knew the Devil held her to his chest until the convulsions subsided and she could breath again. Adeline closed her eyes for only a second but when she managed to open them again the masked vigilante was gone and she was left alone with two unconscious assaulters in an empty street and the police sirens announcing their arrival.

 _ **Present...**_

He was on the roof of his apartment building when the phone started vibrating. When he turned it to a normal mode an automatic voice announced that Adeline was calling. Matt stretched the mask from his face and picked up:

"Adeline?"

"Did I wake you up?" Her voice was faint and quiet and a little raspy.

"No. Are you ok?"

"No. Can you come over?" Without waiting for his answer she added. "You can say no...I understand that we know each other..."

"I'll be there in twenty minutes, that ok?" He interrupted.

"Yes."

He hung up and almost flew into his apartment: before leaving for Adeline's he had to take a shower to wash away any possible evidence of his night encounters with her offenders.

-\\-

He wasn't wearing his usual suit and tie dressing down to a pair of black slacks and a black t-shirt behind the dark coat. The glasses and cane in check. And his hair was wet, he was probably right out of the shower when she called.

She let him in. And told him what happened withholding the Daredevil part. And she was glad he didn't have to see her: it was silly because he hasn't seen her regular appearance, her polished and crafted with make-up and a ton of caffeine look of a perfect woman who's using the law to fight the crime. It was just somehow comforting that he couldn't see her at the moment as well...the moment when she was so undone.

They were standing in the hall that united her bedroom and the living room near the window so that she could gaze out into the darkness. His blindness was one of the first things that really glued her attention to him: He couldn't judge her by how she looked, he didn't have the option to predict the book by the cover. She was standing in front of him him in an oversized T-shirt and a pair of silk PJ pants, with her hair a mass and no make up and she couldn't hide a fact that she was glad he couldn't see it. Somehow it was easier to bare her soul and to ask of him the things she never asked of people, especially the ones she didn't know very well.

"I'm tough...enough so I could just survive this and put it behind me, and it won't be coming back to haunt me, it'll be truly fine: I know how my mind works. But to put it behind me I need this night, I need to react like a normal human being would."

"Tell me what to do. Trust me I won't take it as something inappropriate or strange."

His voice sounded soothing and convincing. She knew that their friendly banter and lovely flirting would probably come to an end after but Adeline really didn't have any alternatives.

"I can't stop shaking...inside." She confessed. "Can you...hold me? And I realize how it sounds. But in this city my only close friend is Amy..."

"Get into bed." He nodded at where her bed was and Adeline did as she was told wordlessly because that was what she needed at the moment: to not think, to follow. She never questioned how he knew where her bed was or how he didn't bump into any of the decor goods carefully chosen from five to seven furniture markets to be allowed into her bedroom. She really did not care... _to follow._

Matt took the glasses off and put them on a small table near the bed, listening carefully how Adeline moved slightly making a place for him. He took a half-sitting position. The woman beside him carefully looked at his face tracing the line of his jaw with her eyes, trying to understand why he was so good to her. She slowly crawled a little closer and put one of her arms around his torso the moment his hands automatically secured her in the place next to him.

"Snuggling with Amy just didn't feel right." Humor was her self-preservation mechanism among any others.

"Then I'm glad you chose me for the case." He offered lightly feeling her body starting to relax a bit. "And didn't call anyone unworthy."

She smiled in his shirt.

"I never thought this would be how we end in bed..." She chuckled lightly, attempting at humor once more.

"I'm calling you a bluff, I'm sure you planned it days ago." The lawyer replied in the same manner.

Matt rested his head on the back of the bed.

"Rest, Adeline." He lulled. "Nothing bad will happen tonight, I promised."

She had no idea why but she believed him. She had this strange almost based on nothing faith that the blind man in her bed could really protect her. At least for the night.

He dragged the comforter firmly around both of them and felt her slowly drift away. Bathing in the smell of her hair - a lavender shampoo – Matt didn't close his unseeing eyes that night.

 _ **13 months from now**_

"Claire! Claire!"

"I can't stop the blood...I don't..."

With her hands covered in blood, red painted all over her sweater and pants, Clair Temple was panicking like that maybe for the first time that she could remember.

"Matt..."

Adeline's voice was almost non-existent, her eyes bloodshot.

"Stop! Everyone stop." Matt ordered: Foggy and Ross came to an abrupt hold in their argument at once while the nurse just continued watching the scene from her place behind the lawyer. "Adeline..."

"You..." She was breathing out words and Claire was glad that her vigilante friend couldn't distinguish the colors because Adeline was so pale that she [Claire] couldn't understand how she wan't dead yet; it was a bad thought, Claire knew that, but it was the truth. "You..."

"Come on, Mockingbird..." Matt held her cheek with one of his hands. She was very cold. The rest of his words was just a whisper only the two of them could hear. "Stay with me..."

With a sharp intake of breath she whispered back, trying to gulp her own blood:

"...call Queen. Oliver...Queen..."

 _ **AN**_

 _ **I know! I know! Before you start saying anything about different cinematic universes...well the way I justify is that Adeline is an OC so a far as we know she might have crossed over from the DC universe...We'll just have to see how it fits. But I promise that Oliver won't be playing any major parts in the story.**_

 _ **Anyway, tell me what you think! Every time someone reviews somewhere Charlie Cox takes off his shirt!**_

 _ **xoxo**_

 _ **RoadwayFox**_


	7. Chapter 6

_**Chapter 6**_

 _Early this morning_

 _When you knocked on my door_

 _I believe it's time to_

 _Me and the Devil_

 _Walking side by side_

 _ **6 months from now**_

Adeline was sad. And angry. But mostly sad.

Because the system screwed up again. Because the system was proven useless again.

The evidence on her recent case disappeared from the storage. They just evaporated. Or at least that's the assumption she shared with the detective of the precinct where the storage was located. She was very unpleasant and didn't attempt at respect or politeness at all.

Because of some cop's stupidity who misplaced an evidence there's a chance that the criminal would just walk away.

It was 5 pm and she just arrived home. Early. But she was stressed out and had no intention to continue the day. The coat went flying on the couch, heels taken off and rudely sent in the corner, she dropped her purse on the floor and took out the bobby pins that held her hair in a bun, took off the white blouse and a pencil skirt, dragged a chiffon tunic over her head and crawled under the covers of her king-sized bed.

It would be easier to sleep the day off. Just to sleep. Until the evening. Adeline wasn't planning to sleep till the next morning, she had plans for the night. _Eyes closed..._

"Adeline, you home?" Matt's voice came from afar, keys that he dropped on the small wooden table near the door didn't wake her at all.

She was in a slumber. Sounds reached her form covered with layers of camouflage on the bed from the distance and did nothing to really wake her up. _For how long was she asleep?_

If Adeline was awake she would spy how Matt listened carefully for her breathing to realize if she was home and that after leaving the cane at the door he danced around her shoes forgotten in the hall and the purse left on the floor with the grace of a young deer.

He chuckled slightly entering the bedroom and having taken his own shoes off got on his side of the bed. Then he carefully bent down to what was supposed to be Adeline.

"Mmmmmmhmmmmm..." She was making sounds like a cat covering her face with one of her hands to shadow it from the fresh evening air that blew in through the ajared window. "Go away...or join me."

And so he did. His strong hands embraced her form and moved her closer to his chest. Her breathing was soft and relaxed, eyes closed. His heartbeat as if following her slumber state slowed gradually. Adeline's hands crept to hold his as she melted into his body.

"What time is it?..." She whispered.

"After eight." He answered as quietly.

"I need to get up." She sighed. "But maybe ten more minutes..."

"Why are you sleeping at this time anyway?" His lips were right over her ear and she shivered as a small smile graced her features.

In the comfort of his arms and their warm bed she could delude herself that the world outside ceased to exist. If only for a couple hours.

"Did something happened at work?" Matt asked again after a pause.

"Stop it." Adeline finally replied softly. "This is a safe place for me..."

"I just...sorry. If you need to talk..."

"Matt," Adeline turned her head so that it would be easier for him to hear her because even for the love of God she would not be raising her voice above whisper for the next ten minutes as she had promised to herself. "When I say this is a safe place I mean you..."

He listened carefully with no sounds made.

"You are my safe place."

 _She was so sure. So honest and sincere that he couldn't provide any comparative input. In words at least. Because then he would have to lie, feed her with half-truths._

 _He kissed her lips then. Physicality. That he could master, that was easier with no pretense. That's how he could communicate that he acknowledged and appreciated her confession. That he would protect her._

 _She easily turned in his arms so that they would be facing each other as he took the chance to deepen the kiss. She smiled in it, snaking one of her hands around his neck and another between them so that her fingers could work on the buttons of his shirt. He didn't protest as he moved to leave deep hot kisses along her neck. Adeline drew a sharp breath simultaneously finishing with the unbuttoning his "lawyer uniform" as Matt quickly discarded the clothing article. Her legs encircled his torso to make sure the space between them decreased significantly. His body responded to her every touch as she traced each scar on his back, caressing it with absurd gentleness. Matt held her in his arms as the scents of her hair, her skin, her bed, even the pulse point on her neck that she put the perfume on in the morning hit his senses with full force once over as his every nerve went on high alert. One of her legs started predatory creeping up his own leg and Matt claimed her lips once more...This woman had no idea what she was doing to him._

It was 10:30. Matt was in the shower. Matt was in the shower and she was...on the roof of her apartment building fighting the wind wrapped in a cotton shirt, knitted cardigan and a scarf. And Matt was in the shower meanwhile...Adeline sighed as she spoke.

"Mac Macmillan. 32 years old. Robbery, suspected robbery and suspected murder. He'll probably be out by Wednesday." Her words were tired and solemn.

"Why? Did the District Attorney forget that his job includes to put the bad guys behind bars from time to time?" His rough voice came from the shadows of the night.

It was crafted with some gadget to make it raspier, that she could tell, to make him unrecognizable. With the specifics of his "job" Adeline couldn't exactly blame the Devil for that.

She put the yellow folder on a small round table and looked at the city lights from the roof they were on:

"Just take it. Criticizing Theroux is neither of our prerogatives."

She turned to leave after that. It was their agreement: she brought him the name of the criminal that wasn't being punished by law, he would wait in the shadows and then when she'd leave he'd take the file. No social chat, almost no interaction. A whiplash to her faith in the system, maybe.

"Be careful," Adeline added over her shoulder. "This one is a real psycho."

"Don't worry, Mockingbird." The Man in the Mask promised with his strange transformed voice. "I've got it all under control."

When she turned around hearing her nickname he was already gone like a gash of wind. He seemed to know everything, and be everywhere.

Adeline sent another gaze into the night and went back into the house, securely closing the door to the roof behind her.

When the young ADA came back to her home she listened carefully to make sure the water was still running in the shower. It was. _Yeah..._ Adeline just sighed.

 **A\N:**

 **Sooo we've got a 6 months flashforward! What do you think? Matt and Adeline are obviously together and obviously both have issues. Shocker, right?**

 **Does Addie know Matt's Daredevil? Hmmm...**

 **What about their agreement? How did it come to work? Don't worry we'll be going back in time next chapter to right after the night Adeline had her first encounter with the Devil of Hell's Kitchen.**

 **I'm waiting for your feedback, folks!**

 **Yours,**

 **RoadwayFox**


	8. Chapter 7

_**Chapter 7: Gamechange**_

 _Your hands they have no mercy_

 _But they're also my best friends_

Adeline hasn't seen Matt for two weeks after he spent the night in her apartment...and her bed...while she too was in that same bed. And it wasn't for the lack of enthusiasm on his side. Adeline knew that she was being ridiculous and seemed ungrateful but the truth was she was rather embarrassed of her actions. The problem was she was trapped and had no-one else to call but Matt. Result: she snuggled with the guy she was attracted to in a not super-sexy way after knowing him for the _whole_ week. Even her mind was leaving sarcastic comments on her Lady Luck's answering machine.

The pair that attacked her was behind bars and kept their mouths closed. It didn't matter: Adeline knew who'd sent them. At least it was clear to her by the message they delivered. It also meant that she was digging the right ground. But it also arose the question: how did they know what exactly was she digging?...Either there was a rat in the DA's office which stirred rather disgusting feeling in the pit of her stomach...or, which wan't any better, she was being followed. But she couldn't have been so blind not to see anyone following her or could she?...

Adeline rubbed her palms together automatically. They were still sore. The blood was gone leaving only bruise marks as a reminder of her encounter with her offenders.

Her thoughts were interrupted when she heard Ross's irritated voice:

"What can you possibly be doing here?" When the answer didn't follow her colleague continued. "And why didn't you burn stepping inside this holy building anyway?"

"Ross, you wound me." That voice Adeline knew. "Though it's nice to know that your sense of humor is improving."

"What do you want, Murdoch?"

"Is Adeline here?"

Their voices became lower as if they came closer to each other and were ready for a stand off.

Adeline was going for silent spying on the two when her hand grazed the pile of documents on the table near the door and with a small yell from the ADA the whole pile went down sprawling on the floor.

"Crap..."

"That's about the same thing I kept saying when my date stopped answering her phone though I'm pretty sure this time it wasn't something I did wrong."

And sure enough Matt Murdoch with his brand half-smirk was holding the frame of her office door with his shoulder, his cane in his hands and his reddish glasses reflecting the rays of rare late November's sun.

"Matt! Hi!" Adeline grabbed the last of the papers and having put them back where they belonged turned to her visitor. "Come in, don't tease Ross standing at the door. I think he's already turning a darker shade of anger than I'd seen on him before. Probably it has something to do with geography: you're kinda on his territory."

Matt chuckled but entered closing the door securely after himself.

"So this is the ADA's office...can't say I've had the pleasure." The lawyer traced a hand on the back of the chair he was offered.

"I believe it's more of a good thing though considering your fine relationships with this department." Adeline replied standing next to her own chair.

"Until recently I was under the impression that my relationships with certainelementsof this department exceeded my expectations. That's until I stumbled on a radio silence."

Adeline nodded absently as she sighed.

"Right...Listen, I'm sor..."

"Adeline," Matt interrupted her swiftly and the next thing she knew he was standing right next to her chair a feet from where she was. "I told you that night that you shouldn't feel embarrassed. You were traumatized by what happened and you needed a refuge."

"You are right, we both know that." She finally said. "But the lightness of what what we had will be gone now. All too soon. We've known each other for less than a week and it's already full of drama. I don't think it's fair firstly to you."

Matt listened carefully as he watched the silhouette of her glitter when the sun fell on her porcelain skin. Then he gradually slowly reached a hand for hers.

"So you think it's fair to decide for me weather I should be seeing you or not?"

Adeline tried to take her had back but the light pressure Matt's hand exhibited was calming and warm.

"You don't want to be with me, Matt. I...people around me seem to get hurt all the time, my life is full of...this."

"There you go again." His voice became lower to match her own. "I sure as hell want to be with you."

 _The whole truth was a bit alter: yes, he wanted to be with her, she was the first woman in a long time he actually wanted to pursuit a relationship with and not just a quick fling; but Matt had a twisting feeling in his gut that being two people around whom the drama and tragedy seemed to reside they were mocking fortune._

 _But as her scent hit the nerves in his nostrils once again all other thoughts were gone from Matt's was sure of what he wanted. Adeline didn't make him a better a person, he wasn't sure that was possible anymore; but they were doing the same thing. Different methods, yes, but all in all they wanted to clean Hell's Kitchen. Among other things that was a very big point. She was also smart, beautiful and strong. And something in her screamed to his madness. Apparently both had a great deal of cockroaches in their heads but for the first time in a longest period Matt felt that his and hers could actually co-exist together._

Adeline looked at the man in front of her and wanted nothing more than to tell him that he probably went mental but she couldn't coax any words as he gently took a hold of her wrist and pulled her to him. She suddenly felt the warmth she's felt that night in her apartment two weeks before. It was radiating from him like from a heater. Adeline herself was always cold that's why she welcomed that difference in temperatures even more. Plus she couldn't ignore that Matt seemed to have already made a decision and that was a nice change from the men she used to date. She was so tired of being strong and independent. Always. With no weekends or breaks. It felt good to have someone make a decision for her.

That's why she didn't even try to protest and let the blind lawyer pull her flat towards him.He put one of his hands on the small of her back and the other one on the side of her neck as his lips smoothly ended on top of hers. Adeline felt a little tug in her gut as they shared there first kiss. It was gentle and light. It was a promise and a hope, and a question...or more like a statement that they will try it out. 

_**13 months from now**_

"Resurrection is possible only after a full destruction. We didn't make it. She died ten minutes before we got there. Ra's owes me so he let me take her to Lazarus Pit..."

"Lazarus Pit..." Matt repeated the words of a billionaire.

"But if used there are side effects. The person gets mad...and possesses the incredible strength for a period of time at least." Oliver went on as the silence ensured on the other end of the line. "She was dead for ten minutes so the process of resurrection was very painful..."

"When can I see her?"

"I hid her where she will restore and learn how to live with what she is now. Right now she's uncontrollable, dangerous and in pain."

"For how long?"

"No chance to know exactly. She will be back into the world some day, Matt. But not now."

"I suppose you won't tell me where she is." Matt conclude for it was barely a question, his voice grave.

"I won't tell anyone. You called me because only I could save her from the death. She is not dead. But again I have no idea how much of a better choice it was."

"Let me know if..."

"I will." With that Oliver Queen hung up.

Matt flipped the phone shut as well. Foggy was sitting quietly on the chair near the window listening in on the conversation his best friend was having and how it effected him.

"What did he say?"

"She is...not dead anymore." Matt's voice was not his own.

"What does it mean?"

"Basically that with the...technology he used to revive her Adeline might've as well stayed dead."

 _ **A\N:**_

 _ **I'm so sorry for such a delay but holidays really got the best of me...oi...**_

 _ **Hope yours were great ones!**_

 _ **Waiting for your feedback, guys!**_

 **RoadwayFox xo**


End file.
